Hang The Moon
by Miss92
Summary: The summer before seventh year started out strangely enough. The Marauders were no longer thick as thieves, Lily's sister was about to get engaged and threats against Muggleborns were no longer unusual. Yet, ironically, the summer before seventh year may prove to be one of the best; for some the moon would always be hung.
1. Chapter 1

**Summary: **The summer before seventh year started out strangely enough. The Marauders were no longer thick as thieves, Lily's sister was about to get engaged and threats against Muggleborns were no longer unusual. Yet, the summer before seventh year may prove to be one of the best; for some the moon would always be hung.

**Disclaimer:** Of course, the Harry Potter universe belongs to J.K. Rowling!

**Note of interest:** For the purposes of this story I changed the timeline J.K. Rowling presented us by having Snape's Worst Memory occur in sixth year.

**Hang The Moon **

Chapter 1: Rewrite

A chair scraped along the floor and he looked up from his hands. His friend sat down on the chair opposite him, a worn look on his face as he wiped some sweat of his forehead with his sleeve.

He raised his eyebrows briefly as his mouth twisted into a wry smile. "Hard work?" he asked.

His friend shrugged. "It pays the bills."

They were silent for a moment. Then: "How's life living on your own then?".

The corners of his friend's mouth twisted up into a smile. "Good, actually," he said, "I can do anything I want to. No one minds."

He nodded. "That's good."

His friend leaned back into his chair, eyeing him cockily. "Any particular reason you're here?"

He locked eyes with his friend. They had a dull greyness to them. Almost as though all the life had left them if he hadn't known any better. "Just checking up on you," he said, shrugging.

His friend's eyes narrowed. "No need," he said through gritted teeth as he stood up from the table and stalked away towards the bar.

He closed his eyes and rubbed them with his fingers before he also stood up and walked up towards his friend again. "Sirius," he said.

"I'm not sick, you know," Sirius almost barked. He had moved behind the bar and was now pouring a man some kind of liquid. "I don't need you to come here."

He leaned on top of the counter, letting his head hang slightly. "I know that," he said. "I worry, that's all."

"I told you," his friend said, "I don't need your pity."

"I don't pity you," he said, "I am worried, though." He looked at his friend, who had now grabbed a towel in his hand and seemed to be drying off glasses. "We didn't exactly part on good terms."

Sirius rolled his eyes as he threw the towel over his shoulder. "We weren't in a relationship, Prongs."

He raised his eyebrows. "If you think years of friendship is no relationship," he argued.

Sirius merely shrugged and turned towards a man who seemed to be asleep on top of the counter, drool was slipping from the corner of his mouth. "Hey!" Sirius said, slapping his hand on the counter. "Go sleep that off somewhere else, will you?" The man merely grunted and smacked his lips lightly before dozing off again. Sirius' frown deepened. "Bloody drunk," he mumbled as he grabbed a glass, filled it with Butterbeer and placed it in front of James.

"Nothing stronger?" James asked and his friend raised his eyebrows.

"We both know you're a pansy that hates Firewhiskey."

He flashed a grin at his friend. "Glad to see you still care about my wellbeing."

His friend shrugged. "You said it yourself," he said, "years of friendship, right?" James grabbed the Butterbeer and sipped it, a smile appearing on his face, and Sirius snorted. "You're weak, Potter."

James only shrugged and licked his lips as he put his glass down. "Don't care," he said, looking directly at his friend now. "What I do care about is you living in some kind of dump."

Sirius crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Here to insult me?"

"Nope," he said, "just to convince you to live at ours again." He sighed, eyeing his Butterbeer. "It's not the same without you, you know. I swear my mum got worse when she realised you weren't…" He stopped and looked up at Sirius again. "Just come, please."

The look on Sirius' face was serious and he could detect some kind of guilt in his eyes. His friend shrugged, however. "I'll drop by soon," he said, his shaggy black hair hanging in front of his eyes.

James frowned slightly. "You can't keep punishing yourself, Padfoot," he said.

At the sound of his friends' nickname for him, Sirius' head shot up and he smiled wryly. "I have to remember, though," he said. "I don't want to become my parents."

James nodded, slipping of the barstool. "I should probably head out," he said, sending his friend an apologetic look. "Mum's been really worried lately…"

Sirius nodded. "I wish I could rewrite all of this, you know," he said. "Forget about all of it, start over…"

"Yeah," James said with a deep sigh. "Me too."

He placed a few coins on the counter, tipped his imaginary hat and sent his friend a smile. "Thanks, mate," he said before apparating on the spot.

* * *

"Lily!"

She rushed down the stairs, her feet barely touching the steps. "Coming," she said, panting slightly as she stopped in the doorway to their kitchen. "Forgot about the cake," she said and quickly walked towards the oven, reaching for the oven glove in the process.

"Nothing is burned yet," said her mother. "What were you doing in that _cave_ of yours?"

She smiled as she opened the oven and hot air hit her face. "It's no cave, mum," she said, "I just didn't get round to cleaning up yet."

"Two weeks into your holiday," her mum said. Lily knew her mother tried her best to sound strict and disapproving, the look on Mrs Evans face told a different story, however. A satisfied smile was plastered on her face as she cut some pepper.

"I'll do it soon," she said as she took the cake out of the oven, placing it on the counter.

"Looks good," her mother said as she looked up from the pepper she was cutting. "What's the occasion?"

Lily sat down on a chair, a satisfied smile on her face as she examined the cake's golden brown colour. "Do I need an occasion to bake?"

Her mother shrugged. "I don't know," she said, "I keep thinking you'll bring a boyfriend home soon."

Her eyes shot to her mother's. "_Mum_," she said indignantly, "do you wish to give daddy a heart attack? He's barely gotten used to Vernon…"

Her mother faced her now, her knife in her hand. "Your dad and I met when we were your age," she said. "Not to mention you go to boarding school."

"Which is, of course, the source of all evil," Lily said, rolling her eyes.

Her mother smiled. "It's just that…" she sighed and turned to her pepper again. "You turned a few heads when we picked you up from the station this year."

Lily's eyebrows shut up. "What are you talking about?"

"Oh, I don't know…" her mother said. "I just thought it was awfully polite of that boy to bring you that book."

Lily shrugged. "It was mine."

"All right," her mother said, "I won't say any more."

Lily looked at her mother for a second and then turned her head towards the magazine that lay on top of the kitchen table. The cover was largely pink with screaming headings which read "How to be the perfect girlfriend" and "Ten things you didn't know about the other sex". She picked it up and opened it on the first page.

"Just in case you hadn't noticed, though," her mother then said, forcing Lily to look up, "he _is_ very handsome."

She blinked up at her mother. "Who is?" she asked.

"That boy at the station," her mother said, adding an eye roll.

She felt a wave of heat hit her neck. "_Potter_?" she said. "He's not my type."

"Oh, well," her mother then said with a sigh, "he would be mine."

Lily scrunched her nose. "Too much information, mum," she said and her mum let out a laugh.

"Oh, Lily," she said, "I'm only a curious mother who doesn't get to see her daughter three quarters of a year." She turned her head to smile at her. "I'm bound to ask questions."

"Don't go imagining things, though," Lily said as she stood up. "I promise you I don't have a boyfriend." She pecked her mother's cheek and was about to leave the kitchen when her sister walked in.

"Mum," her sister said, looking past Lily, "Vernon is staying for dinner."

Their mother smiled. "Lovely, we'll have Lily's cake for dessert."

Her sister turned to face her now, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "Which recipe did you use?" she asked, raising one eyebrow.

Lily rolled her eyes. "Nan's," she said.

Petunia narrowed her eyes, looked at her for a few seconds and then curtly nodded her head. "All right," she said, "because I wasn't going to feed Vernon some freak recipe."

"Petunia," their mother said sternly, but the older girl had already left the kitchen.

Lily sighed as she looked at the doorway her sister had just disappeared through. "It's okay, mum," she said, "I know she doesn't mean to."

"She's just…" her mother sighed. "She's just hurt."

Lily nodded and slowly made her way out of the kitchen. "I know," she said, "I'd change it all for her, you know. If I could." She left the kitchen and made her way up the stairs. She heard a door slam – her sister's most certainly – and she stopped moving for a few seconds. After counting to ten, she took the final steps into her room and gently closed the door behind her.

She sat down at her desk and looked at the quill, ink and parchment she had left behind to take a look at her cake. Her eyes scanned the words on the parchment and she sighed, picking up the parchment and crumpling it in her hand.

She needed to rewrite all of it. To rephrase all of her words, so that nothing could be misinterpreted or misunderstood. She grabbed a clean sheet of parchment and dipped her quill in the ink, biting her lip for a second. "Dear Remus," she mumbled to herself as her quill touched the paper.

Then she remained silent for an indefinite amount of time. After all, how did one go about explaining someone that his or her darkest secret was not as unknown as always thought?


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: I hope you enjoy the story so far! Let me know what you think!

**Hang The Moon**

Chapter 2: Second Hand

"Hold that for me, would you," her mother said as she handed her a bowl of fruit.

Lily took the bowl and raised her eyebrows. "Why do we go through all of this trouble?" she asked. "It's not as if he doesn't have dinner with us at least three times a week." Her mother sent her a warning look and she sighed. "I'm just saying…"

Her mother sighed as well as she picked up the cake and the can of whipped cream. "Don't say you haven't noticed, Lily," her mother then said.

"Noticed what?" she asked as she followed her mother towards the dining room.

"You'll see," her mother then said as she entered the living room with a bright smile. "Dessert is ready!"

Lily's father clapped his hands at the sight of the food. "Would you look at that!" he exclaimed, a bright smile on his face. "It's a work of art!"

Lily rolled her eyes, a smile plastered on her face as she sat down next to her father and opposite her sister. "Hardly," she said then. "You don't even want to know what I put in the cake…"

"_What_?" Her sister sent her a panicked look. "What did you _do_?"

Lily grinned as their mother shook her head. "Hush, Petunia," she said, "you sister has a wicked sense of humour."

Her sister's lips straightened into a thin line. "Not the only thing wicked about her," she said as she turned her head away and grabbed Vernon's hand in hers.

"Well…" their father then said, "I think it looks marvellous."

Lily touched her father's shoulder with her head briefly. "Thank you, dad," she said, looking at her sister out of the corner of her eye. Her blonde hair was done up neatly and her dress was a lovely light blue that matched her eyes nicely. This was not unusual – as her sister loved to dress to the nines – yet there was something unusual about her behaviour this evening. Lily couldn't put her finger on it, but her sister was up to something – their mother was right.

"Your cooking is flawless as ever, Mrs Evans," Vernon grumbled and Lily noticed how he hungrily eyed the cake on the table. A smile spread on her face.

Their mother smiled. "Why thank you, Vernon," she said as she took his plate in her hand and placed a piece of cake on it. "Lily was a great help today, though."

"I'm certain Petunia will prove accomplished as well," Vernon added, picking up his fork as the cake was placed in front of him again. He was about to lift his hand to attack the cake when Petunia's hand put his hand down again.

"Let's wait for a second, dear," she said, giving him a look that Lily could not identify.

Vernon, however, seemed to get it. "Right, it would be impolite of me to take the first bite," he said.

Lily felt heat rise to her cheeks. "You can't be serious, Petunia," she said angrily. "You honestly think I would sabotage the cake?"

Her sister's eyes snapped to hers. "No, goodness," she said, "even I know you have more sense than to do _that_."

"Then why…" Lily asked, but Petunia silenced her quickly.

"Not everything is about you, _Lily_," she said venomously.

Lily felt as though she had just been slapped in the face and she looked down at her plate. A tense silence filled the room, broken only when Vernon slowly cleared his throat.

"Why, yes," he said, "Petunia and I thought we could take the opportunity tonight to announce some happy news." Lily's head shot up at these words and she stared at her sister, whose eyes were fixed on the man next to her, a dreamy expression in her eyes. Lily's hands started to shake as she watched a look of utter bliss appear on her sister's face.

"I asked Petunia for her hand in marriage this morning," Vernon announced, a proud smile on his pudgy face.

Petunia took over then, raising her hand and flashing it in front of their mother's face. "And I said yes!" she exclaimed happily.

Jubilant sounds escaped their parents' mouths as Lily could only stare at her sister's hand. A bright stone – was it a diamond? – now occupied her ring finger and Lily felt like throwing up.

"Tuney…" she said, but no one heard her, too excited to notice Lily's distress.

* * *

"Damn," James said, rubbing his shin with his hand. "When did you move here?" He sent the bin on the curb a dirty look. "Swear you weren't here yesterday…"

He sighed as he stood up, lifted his wand and muttered a spell under his breath, moving his wand only slightly. The door opened and he stepped inside, softly closing the door behind him.

He reached down for his shoes, untying them and placing them in the shoe rack his mother had placed there only the year before. After doing so, he tiptoed towards the stairs and gently lifted his foot onto the second step – the first one creaked and needed to be avoided.

He was five steps in when the lights turned on.

"Merlin," he groaned as the lights temporarily blinded him, "was that _bloody_ necessary?"

"Language," said a deep, stern voice and James sighed, turning towards the source of the voice.

His father stood at the bottom of the stairs, his wand lifted towards the lamp on the ceiling and a disapproving look on his face. "Have you been drinking?" his father asked.

James sighed again and sat himself down on one of the steps. "I-," he said as he closed his eyes, too tired to keep them open, "nothing too strong."

"This is the third time this week," his father said, anger evident in his voice, "the _third_ time you come home after hours. You know your mother…"

"_Yes_!" James snapped. "I know mum worries, all right."

His father let out a sigh. "Then learn from your mistakes," he said as he moved up a few steps. "We raised you better than that."

James looked at his father out of the corner of his eyes as he passed him on the stairs. He hung his head and let out a groan. "I just need to make sure he's okay," he said softly and his father stopped, "I have to let him know he's not second hand."

"I know," his father said, "and I understand." A hand fell on top of James' shoulder. "But you should also respect his choices… and drink less."

James turned his head to look his father in the eye. "I only had some kind of mix he made me," he said, "nothing more. I can't take anything too strong."

His father's mouth twitched slightly. "Then I don't see why you would have to make so much ruckus and apparate inside of a bin…"

James smiled despite himself and dropped his gaze. "Yeah, well…" he said with a sigh and then looked up at his father again. "How is she?"

The smile disappeared from his father's face. "Tired," he said.

James nodded and stood up, wobbling slightly. "Right," he said, "off to bed." His father moved up the stairs and James followed him, feeling as though a heavy weight was now pressed on his shoulders.

* * *

The living room was suddenly filled with light and Lily slowly lifted her head from her knees. Her father stood in the opening of the door, his hand on the light switch.

"It's nearly three in the morning," he said, fatigue evident in his voice.

"Yeah," she said as she moved her feet to the floor, "sorry, I'll go up." She stood up, brushed her hand against the material of her night gown and walked towards her father.

Just when she was about to leave the living room, her father placed his hand on her shoulder, effectively stopping her.

"I know you don't like it," he said.

Lily sighed. "I just think it's too soon," she said, looking up at him. "How can she be so certain?"

Her father shrugged. "She loves him," he said.

"But _why_?" Lily asked, cringing at the sound of her voice. It sounded weak, broken. Her father wrapped his arms around her. "Why does she love him and hate me?"

"She doesn't hate you," her father said and Lily felt calmer by the mere feel of her father's voice vibrating through his chest.

"One letter changed it all," she said softly, "I became unimportant. She traded me in and I've become second hand to her."

Her father pressed a kiss to her forehead and let go of her. "I think it's time to go to bed," he said softly. His hand pressed against her shoulder and she walked out of the living room.

Suddenly it was all dark again.

* * *

James awoke with a start when he heard a loud thud against his window. He sat up, reached for his glasses and swung his legs over the edge of his bed.

Another thud was heard and when James pushed open the curtains he saw an owl which he recognised as Remus' family owl. He quickly moved to open the window and the owl flew in, nearly slapping James in the face with one of its wings.

The owl fluttered about in his room for a moment, before he settled on top of the chair at his desk.

James walked towards it and the owl neatly extended its leg for James to remove the scrap of parchment attached to it.

James's fingers unwrapped the string which held the letter in place and he feverishly moved to open the letter, scanning its brief contents quickly.

He dropped the letter on his desk, sat down on his bed and grabbed his hair with both his hands, before standing up again and reading the short letter once more.

_James,_

_Snape has told. Lily knows everything. _

_Remus_


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Unforgivable

"What's this?" he asks angrily as he storms into his friend's room. "What the bloody hell is this?"

Remus sits on the edge of his bed, his face pale and a nervous air surrounding him. He looks up at James, a frantic look in his eyes. "It was bound to happen sooner or later, right?" he asked, though it was clear he didn't expect an answer. "Who have I been kidding, right?"

James stopped in front of his friend, kneeling down in front of him. "No, this is a betrayal," he said determinedly, "this is unforgivable."

Remus looked at his friend and shook his head. "It's hardly a betrayal," he said, "Snape doesn't owe me anything."

"He owes you his life," said James.

Remus chuckled. "No, he owes you his life…"

It was silent for a while and then James stoop up again, cursing under his breath as he started to pace the room. After a while he stopped and turned towards Remus, brushing his hand through his hair. "I'm sorry," he said, "this is all my fault."

Remus raised his eyebrows, a genuinely surprised look on his face. "Your fault?"

"If Sirius hadn't been angry with me," he said, a pained look on his face, "I should never have said a thing."

Remus scoffed. "Don't play the martyr here, James," he said. "It's not attractive."

"It's true, though," James said, sitting down next to Remus. "I was just so upset about my mum and it all slipped out…"

Remus sighed then. "Are you a werewolf, James?" he asked. "Are you the werewolf who bit me deliberately?" James looked at his friend. "Because that's who's to blame," Remus concluded as he stood up, rubbing his neck.

James watched his friend as he moved to the window and looked out of it. He pursed his lips and nodded, standing up as well. "All right," he said, "let's clean this mess then." Remus turned to look at James as James made his way to Remus' desk, rummaging through his papers. "What exactly did Evans say?"

Remus sighed. "She said she needed me to know that she knew," he said as James' hands rested on the piece of parchment that had Lily's neat handwriting on it. "She also said she would never expose me and that she wished to stay my friend."

James felt a tiny fluttering tingling in his abdomen as he read Lily's letter, but he decided to ignore it, keeping his face straight as he turned to his friend. "Well, that's good," he said curtly, placing the letter back on the desk.

Remus nodded. "Yes," he said, "it's brilliant. She's too kind."

"No," James said then, "you deserve that kind of treatment from everyone."

"But you know I won't get it from everyone," Remus said and James remained silent for a moment.

"We should talk to Snape," he then announced, looking his friend in the eye. "Give him a final warning. Send the message across we won't save his ass next time around." The colour left all of Remus' face and James rushed to calm his friend down. "Of course, he won't know we plan on avoiding this from happening ever again."

Remus nodded and then let out a breath. "Only thing is… how do we find him?"

James nodded, frowning in thought. "You've got some more parchment, right?"

* * *

"Theo," said Lily as she lifted the little boy in his arms, "what did I tell you about crushing those ants?" The boy blinked at her, a shy smile playing at his lips. "It's not very nice, remember?" The boy nodded and she put him back down on the ground as she picked up the ball they had been playing with only seconds before.

"Okay," she said, "back to our game!"

"My turn!" The girl's blonde curls flew in the wind as she gained speed and ran towards Lily.

Lily smiled. "All right," Lily said, handing the ball to the girl, "but be careful not to throw too hard, Elizabeth."

The girl took the ball and threw the ball in her brother's direction. However, instead of flying at her brother, Elizabeth's ball flew towards the glass vase that stood on the terrace table.

"Damn," Lily said softly as she took her wand out of her jeans' pocket and aimed it at the ball, changing its direction.

"How did it do that?" Elizabeth asked happily as she and Theo both ran towards the ball. Luckily, they had been too focused on the ball itself to notice Lily's slight interjection.

"Okay," Lily said, "how about we go back to colouring?"

The children cheered and ran towards the table, sat down on the chairs and picked up their pencils. Lily smiled a satisfied smile when she also sat down and was handed a yellow pencil by Theo, whose tongue stuck out of his mouth out of sheer concentration. She thanked him and looked at both the children for a few seconds before turning to her blank paper.

She was about to put her pencil to paper when she heard loud laughs come from the garden next to the one she was in – the garden of her own home.

"Engaged!" she heard someone squeal excitedly and Lily rolled her eyes as the voice went on to say: "Let me see the ring!"

The happy atmosphere in her house had suffocated her this morning and she had been more than a little thankful when Louise Connelly – their neighbour – had asked her if she could please watch Theo and Elizabeth while she was out. Anything to escape her house.

"It's huge!" the voice then said. "You must be over the moon!"

"I am," she heard her sister say with a blissful sigh, "everyone is, really." It was silent for a second and then: "Except for my sister, of course."

She sat up straighter in the garden chair, softly putting the pencil down on the table.

"_Ugh_," the voice said, sounding disgusted, "please don't say you're bothered by her."

Lily looked down at the paper and bit the lip, anxious to hear her sister's reply.

"Not really," Petunia said, "she's as good as dead to me."

All air seemed to momentarily escape Lily and before she knew it she let out a startled sob-like sound. Elizabeth looked up, an alarmed look on her face.

"What is it?" the tiny girl asked, concern filling her eyes.

Lily quickly regained her senses and smiled at the little girl. "Nothing," she said and then looked at the girl's drawing, "isn't that pretty! Look at that!"

The little girl smiled a proud and toothless smile, resuming her colouring as Lily leaned back into the garden chair some more.

* * *

"No problem at all," said Lily with a smile as Louise Connelly thanked her again. "They are precious."

Louise smiled at her and then looked past her, her smile growing even further. "Well," she said then, locking eyes with Lily again, "I won't keep you from that dashing young man any longer…"

Lily frowned slightly as Louise closed the door behind her. She shrugged, however, and turned around to walk towards her own home again.

She stopped in her tracks when she saw the 'dashing young man' Louise had just described.

His hair was a mess – as usual – and he wore a red t-shirt on top of a pair of jeans. Strangely enough, she thought, he seemed remarkably Muggle-like as he stood there. His hands in his pockets and his eyes fixed dramatically on her.

She swallowed and walked towards him, her heart thumping loudly in her chest.

"Hi," she said, sounding breathless.

He nodded his head towards her and then let out a breath. "Look," he said, a surprisingly serious look on his face, "I know you're probably freaking out, but I'm not here to ask you out or anything."

The thumping of her heart lessened and she felt oddly disappointed at his words. She smiled, however, and said: "What are you here for then?"

"The letter you sent to Remus," he said as he looked at her intensely, "just making sure you understand the implications of your words."

She straightened her back then. "Of course," she said, "I won't tell a soul."

James nodded. "I know you won't," he said. "Fact is, though, someone told you…"

Lily looked at him. He seemed tense as he stood there. The look in his eyes was determined, yet she could tell the muscles in his jaw and neck were stretched under his skin.

"Someone told me about his or her suspicions," she said then. "I figured out everything else on my own."

James cocked his eyebrow. "Care to clarify who this person is?"

She let out a breathy laugh. "As if you don't already know," she said.

James eyes flashed with anger then and he took a step towards her. "Yes," he said, "I bloody do know, but I need you to confirm." The tip of his nose nearly touched hers and she found herself staring at it. She was positive she must have looked cross-eyed by this point and she took a step back to avoid any further embarrassment.

"Why do you need me to confirm if you're so sure?" she asked.

He crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Because I need to be sure before I confront him."

She raised her eyebrows. "Since when have you ever wanted to be sure of any of your accusations against him?"

A somewhat malice grin appeared on his face. "Believe me, Evans," he said, "I have always been absolutely positive he needed to wash his hair more than once a month."

She narrowed her eyes and then lashed out, pushing him away from her. "You're a bully," she said.

"So you've told me," he said then.

They stared at one another for a moment, anger getting the most of the both of them and just when she was about to walk away, they were interrupted by a door opening.

"Thank you _so_ much for everything, Petunia," said a bright voice. A brown-haired girl stepped out of their home, Lily's sister following suit.

"You're welcome," she said with a smile, which faded when she saw Lily. "Who is that?" she snapped as she made her way towards Lily and James.

Lily rolled her eyes. "No need to worry, Tuney," she said, "he was just about to leave."

"I wasn't, actually," James piped up and Petunia stopped to look at him, her eyes scanning him.

"I can't believe you brought one of your lot into our neighbourhood," she whispered, anger evident in her voice as she looked at Lily.

"What's this?" A voice then piped up and James, Lily and Petunia turned towards the brown-haired girl which had just left their home. The girl smiled and set her eyes on James. "I'm Felicia," she said to him, extending her hand, "I don't believe we've met."

James shook her hand. "James," he said as he let go and his eyes went back to Lily, "I'm a friend of Lily's."

"_Hardly_," Lily said soft enough for only James to hear.

Felicia let out a laugh. "Well, I should have gone to boarding school," she said, "seems to me it holds a lot of surprises."

Lily turned her eyes to Felicia, the girl smiled brightly and there was a challenging look in her eyes. Lily let out a groan. "_Seriously_," she said under her breath and she then grabbed James' arm. "Sorry," she told Felicia and her sister, "James and I were actually discussing something very important."

"Bye James," Felicia said as Lily forcefully pulled James away from the two girls.

"No need to grab me, Evans," she heard James say, "you know I'd follow you anywhere."

Lily rolled her eyes. "This is not the time," she said as she let go off his arm and turned towards him again. "Just tell me what you want from me."

James stared at her for a moment and an unsettling feeling settled in her stomach. She didn't know what to think of him, she didn't know what to do with him and she didn't know why he was here. It made her feel uncomfortable and his transfixed stare wasn't helping any.

"Snape's address," he then said.

Lily's eyes snapped to James' and to her surprise and horror he was completely serious. "What?" she asked, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"I need Snape's address," he replied.

She scoffed. "You think I'd give that to you?"

James sighed and looked at his feet. "I was afraid you'd be like this."

"Be like what?" she asked. "Did you really think I was going to give you his address just so you can attack him when he least expects it?"

Colour rose to James' cheeks. "I wouldn't do that," he said indignantly.

"Of course not," she said then, "but isn't that what you always do? Hurt him when he's most vulnerable?"

Anger filled James' eyes again. "Why are you defending him still?" he asked. "He called you a -,"

"_Shut up_!" she yelled, putting her hands over her ears. "I don't want to hear it, okay? I'm sick of it!" James looked at her, his mouth slightly open and a startled look on his face. "I need everyone to stop calling me that," she said. "It's unforgivable and can never be taken back."

"I would never call you that," James said softly, a sad look in his eyes. "You should know that."

Lily swallowed. "That doesn't mean you should keep reminding me of everyone who did."

It was silent for a moment as Lily looked at her feet and wrapped her cardigan around her.

"I'm sorry," he said, "you're right."

She didn't look up at him and she didn't stop him when she heard him walk away from her.

She didn't know how long exactly she stood there, but when she looked up there was no trace of James and everything seemed to be as it was before. She let out a sigh of relief and walked towards their front door.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N:** Sorry for the wait, everyone. I was on a holiday for a bit. I hope you enjoy the chapter and please let me know what you think! Also, thank you to everyone who has decided to favourite this story and follow my writing!

Chapter 4: Beat

"What do you think?" Two bottles of colourful liquids were held in front of her eyes. "Peach or scarlet?"

She shrugged. "I really don't care," she said, "pick whichever you like."

A loud sigh was released. "What is it with you today?" asked Mary, her lips forming a perfect pout. "You're no fun at all!"

"I'm just not in the mood," said Lily, avoiding her friend's eyes.

"You should have told us you didn't want us here, Lily," said their other friend, her long blonde hair tied up in a messy knot. "We would have dropped by some other time."

"No!" Lily said and she sat up straighter. "I do want you here."

Mary's face brightened. "Good, then… are you feeling that femme fatale vibe as well? Scarlet it is!" Her friend opened the bottle of nail polish and started to carefully paint Lily's toes one by one.

Lily sighed. "You don't even want to know how appropriate that colour is," she muttered under her breath, but not soft enough for her friends to be deaf to her words.

"What?" asked Marlene as she turned her eyes from the magazine she was reading. "You're no femme fatale."

Mary giggled. "Far from it," she said.

Lily frowned. "Thanks…" she said.

"It's no insult!" Marlene said. "It's a good thing. You're the cute girl next door!" She held up the magazine and pointed at the article she had been reading. "Too kind for words," she said with a grin.

Lily rolled her eyes. "I'm sure some people would disagree," she said. Her friends didn't say anything and Lily closed her eyes before saying: "James Potter came to see me two days ago."

It was silent for a few seconds and then: "Shit!" Mary cursed loudly. "I completely messed my nails up. Thank Merlin for magic!"

Lily opened her eyes to find Marlene looking at her with an odd expression on her face as Mary hurried to take out her wand.

"Potter was here?" Marlene asked. "He didn't ask again…"

"No," Lily said, a flush rising to her cheeks, "he most certainly won't every again either, I think."

"Okay," Mary said loudly. "We need to discuss and review. What exactly happened?"

Lily shrugged. "Potter came here and…" she bit her lip, thinking quickly so she wouldn't reveal too much, "he wanted to know Snape's address and I didn't want to give it to him –"

"Snape's address?" asked Marlene. "Whatever would he want with that?"

Lily shrugged. "He had something to discuss with him, I don't know…"

"Well good for you, you didn't give it to him," said Marlene, "the neighbourhood would have exploded."

"Most certainly," said Mary. "I can't believe he came to ask you that!"

Lily looked away from his friends. "I'm sure he had his reasons," she said softly.

"Well," said Marlene, "whatever he would have wanted with it, I'm glad you prevented it."

"True," Mary added, "have you seen any newspapers recently? It's freaking scary, Lily."

Lily looked at her friends. "Tuney freaks out every time she sees the Daily Prophet, so…"

"You don't know?" asked Marlene. The girl stood up and sat down next to Lily on the bed. "The Death Eaters are openly terrorizing now," she said, "they're threatening Muggleborns and…"

"_Marlene_," Mary said, a warning in her voice.

"_No_," said Marlene, "she should know." Marlene grabbed Lily's hand then. "You know Fiona Doubleday? That overexcited Hufflepuff girl?" Something sank in the pit of Lily's stomach as she looked at Marlene's face. "Her mum has been killed," said Marlene then, "she was a Muggleborn."

Lily wrenched her hand out of Marlene's and stood up, pacing her room. "No," she said softly, "this is… _insane_." She pulled her fingers through her hair and stared at her friends. "What's happening?"

Her friends stared back at her, apologetic looks on their faces.

"I don't know," said Mary then and her eyes fell to the ground.

A sudden rush overtook Lily and she hurried towards the window, opening it wide to let the fresh summer air in. Birds flew around happily and some of her neighbours were talking outside, enjoying the warmth. Yet to Lily all of it suddenly felt suffocating. She closed the window again and turned towards her friends.

"We need to go somewhere," she stated and her friends sent her startled looks. "I know the perfect place."

* * *

He pushed open the door the Leaky Cauldron and immediately caught sight of Sirius behind the bar. He was talking animatedly to a blonde-haired witch he recognised as Valerie Turpin, a Ravenclaw girl who had graduated only a few weeks before. He walked up to the bar, set himself down on a bar stool and waited for his friend to notice him.

It didn't take long for Sirius to see him. He turned his head slightly, nodded in his direction and then whispered something in Valerie's ear, making her blush, before he walked up to James.

"Hey," he said, placing an empty glass in front of James, "want anything to drink?"

James shook his head. "Nah," he said and then he leaned forward somewhat, "any chance Tom will let you go for a few minutes?"

Sirius frowned slightly. "Don't know," he said cautiously, "something wrong?"

James shrugged. "Not wrong per se," he said, "it is important, though."

Sirius eyed him for a moment before nodding and calling out: "Oi, Tom! I'll be back in a bit!" James stood up and was about to go outside when Sirius motioned to follow him. "The kitchen is usually empty," he said.

James followed his friend and entered the kitchen of the Leaky Cauldron. Pots and pans stood near the sink, waiting to be washed off. Sirius sighed slightly, grabbed his wand from his pocket and muttered a spell. Immediately, a cloth flew into the hair, moving towards one of the pots and started to clean it in slow circles.

James grinned slightly. "You'd make a perfect housewife, Padfoot," he said.

"Sod off," Sirius said good humouredly as he leaned against a wall. "So..." he said, "what's up?"

James looked at the ground for a second before looking up at his friend. "Remus got a letter from Evans and-"

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Please tell me your burning desire for her didn't immediately resurface..."

James felt heat rise to his cheeks. "_No_," he said urgently, "that's not what this is about at all!"

"But you still want her," Sirius said and sighed, shaking his head slightly.

James decided to ignore his friend's comment and continued. "What I was going to say is that Remus got a letter from Evans in which she wrote that she knows about Remus' problem."

Sirius' eyes snapped to his. "How?" he asked.

"You know how," he said.

"Shit," Sirius cursed as he pushed himself off the wall. "Shit, shit, _shit_!" His hands disappeared in his hair and he focused his eyes frantically on James'. "This is all my fault."

James sighed. "Look, it's not..."

But Sirius interrupted, yelling: "Of course it bloody well is!"

James looked at the ground and shrugged before saying: "We both know it never would have happened if I hadn't said what I said."

"I should have kept my cool," Sirius said as he paced from one side of the kitchen to the other. "I knew you didn't mean it." He stopped and sent James an apologetic look. "I ruined everything."

James sighed and walked towards his friend, grabbing both of his shoulders. "Look," he said, "someone was bound to find out sooner or later."

"But I made sure it happened sooner rather than later," Sirius mumbled. "Merlin, Remus..."

"Isn't too upset," James said. "You know Evans... she loves Remus."

"I'm not worried about her," Sirius said then. "We should do something about Snape, though."

"Yeah," said James, "I tried to convince Evans to give me his address..." Sirius' eyebrows shot up. "To say it went badly is an understatement."

Sirius snorted. "News flash," he said, looking at James, "things with you and Evans _always_ go badly." James didn't say anything as he looked at the floor and Sirius sighed. "All right," he said, "what are we going to do about this?"

* * *

"The Leaky Cauldron," Mary purred, a sly grin appearing on her face. "_Cheeky_, Lily!"

Lily shook her head at her friend and pushed open the door to the bar. The place was swarming with witches and wizards. Most of them, however, seemed to use the bar merely as a passage to Diagon Alley as most of the tables were still unoccupied.

Lily walked towards a somewhat secluded table in the corner and sat down. Her friends followed suit, grins on their faces.

"Whoever would have thought you of all people would drag us into a pub?" said Marlene.

"Stop it," said Lily, a smile on her face, as she looked around the pub. "What do you want to drink?"

"How about just a Butterbeer for now?" Marlene said.

Mary protested lightly, but Lily ignored the protests and walked up to the bar where a big queue had formed. Lily looked at Tom, one of the first faces she had seen on her first trip to Diagon Alley. He was busy filling a few glasses with a greenish liquid, sweat tinkling on his face. He put the glasses on the table and then yelled out: "Oi! I think that break was long enough!"

After a few seconds, two familiar heads of hair entered the pub via a backdoor and Lily froze. She watched as Sirius Black made his way behind the bar and moved to one of the customers, sending them one of his familiar grins.

Before she truly realised what she was doing, she turned around and muttered a brief apology as she had bumped straight into a wizard standing behind her. She fled towards the table her friends were talking at animatedly and said: "We've got to go."

Both her friends turned to look at her. "What?" Mary asked, a pout appearing on her lips. "But we just got here."

Marlene, on the other hand, rolled her eyes. "Calm down, Lily," she said, "a Butterbeer isn't going to kill you."

"It's not that," she said, "it's just that –"

"Evans?"

She froze again and noticed how her friends' eyes grew large.

"Hey Potter," Marlene said, a tight smile on her lips.

Lily straightened her back then and turned towards the source of the voice. His hands were shoved in his pockets and his cheeks seemed slightly flushed, however, that could be due to the overall warmth the Leaky Cauldron provided with so many witches and wizards crossing it on a perfectly fine summer's day. His eyes tentatively shot in her direction before settling on Marlene's again.

"What brings you here?" he asked, a kind smile appearing on his lips.

"Lily needed to get out of the house," said Mary quickly. "That's all."

His eyes flickered to hers again, holding them slightly longer this time. "Right," he said then as he removed his hands out of his pockets, "I'll get you something to drink then."

"You don't –" Lily started, but James sent her a look.

"I really do," he interrupted her, sounding determined. "Besides," a smile now graced his lips again, "I kind of know one of the guys behind the bar…" He turned then and Lily let out a deep breath.

She turned towards her friends who stared at her and she rolled her eyes as she sat down. "Show-off," she mumbled and her friends let out a few giggles.

* * *

"Strawberries," she said. She entered the kitchen with a wide smile spread over her face and took a strawberry, plopping it promptly into her mouth.

Her mother - who had been busying herself cleaning the red fruit - looked up, a fond smile on her face when she took in her youngest daughter. "Where have you been?" she asked.

"I had a drink with a few friends," she said as she hopped on top of the table.

"That explains the bright smile and flushed cheeks," her mum said, sending her daughter a knowing look.

"_Mum_!" she said, feeling her cheeks get warmer and warmer. "That's not - we just had..." She narrowed her eyes as her mum started to laugh. "You make me feel bad," she said then.

Her mother raised one of her eyebrows. "Sure that's me, dear?" she asked. "Drinking tends to do that too."

Lily rolled her eyes. "We had one drink," she said and then sighed, "or maybe two... I don't know. James may have lied about that pink one he gave me."

"_James_?" her mother asked. "Is that the boy we saw at the station?"

If possible, Lily felt her cheeks flush a brighter red and she stood up, taking another strawberry and removing its crown. "That's all you picked up from what I just said?"

"I remember you saying he wasn't your type..." her mother said, looking at her daughter.

"We just had a drink with friends," she said. "Plus... we had a fight a few days ago."

Her mother turned then and fully faced her daughter. "How?" she asked.

Lily shrugged. "He came over to ask me something and... I got angry and he got angry..."

"But what did you fight about?" her mother asked.

Lily sighed. "It's not important, mum," she said.

"Does it have something to do with what I heard you, Mary and Marlene talk about earlier today?" she asked then and Lily's eyes found her mum's. "Is it about you not having been born into a magical family?"

Lily stared at her mother and saw the worry in her eyes. "How did you -," she started.

"Is it safe, Lily?" her mother asked, sounding somewhat upset. "Can I still trust you're safe at that school of yours?"

"Yes," Lily said, "yes, absolutely."

Her mother nodded and then turned back towards the strawberries she had been cleaning. "All right," her mother said, "I'll trust your judgement then."

They were silent for a while, Lily leaning against the edge of the table as she bit her lip. She didn't know what to say or how to explain. No matter what she would say, she would probably give her mother more reason to worry with every word she'd say.

"Hogwarts is possibly the safest place for me to be, mum," she said then.

Her mother sighed. "You should have told me about this," she said.

Lily walked up to her mother, squeezing her shoulder lightly. "What good would that do?" Her mother didn't say anything. She merely moved to the dishes, reaching for the tab. Lily stopped her and with a smile took her wand from the pocket of her jeans. "Let me do that," she said and with a wave of her wand the plates moved into the air as the tab opened and water filled the sink. She giggled and looked at her mother when she heard her take in a sharp breath.

All colour seemed to have left her mother's face as she stared at something over Lily's head. Lily turned her head and felt her whole body freeze.

Vernon Dursley stood in the door opening, his coat folded on top of his arm and his face slightly purple and red as he stared at the scene before him.

With a clatter the plates crashed into the sink and Vernon Dursley turned around, briskly leaving the Evans' family home.


End file.
